


Broken Places

by LunaUlric



Category: Final Fantasy XV, Kingsglaive
Genre: Angst, Day 6, F/M, FFXV Rare Pairs Week, PTSD, Ship, lunyx, otp, prompt: quote
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 20:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11517165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaUlric/pseuds/LunaUlric
Summary: Luna sees Nyx having a PTSD flashback/episode.





	Broken Places

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Day 6 of FFXV Rare Pairs Week on tumblr. I only got to upload it here now. 
> 
> I was inspired by this quote:  
>  **“He said ‘If I showed you my broken places, would you still think I’m strong.’”** – Darla Evans
> 
> This is also in my Princess-Bodyguard AU.

Smoke rose from the jagged horizon, staining the skies, reminding of a battle that claimed a home. Luna caught glimpse of it and kept her thoughts from lingering on the desolation.

Moments after she arrived, the princess stood under the flimsy blanket of a tent, surrounded by pleading eyes and hushed voices. The camp was a makeshift one, housing the refugees that fled the razed town that the Empire had chosen to pillage. Men, women and children were in bandages, their faces stained with soot and dirt. They all lined up for the Oracle’s touch and Luna would do nothing more than to give what they needed the most. One by one they faced her meekly as they were blessed with her prayer. A healing glow came quickly after her utterance, replacing the wounds with new skin. They thanked her, even much so offered what they had in their pockets – food, money, trinkets – but Luna wouldn’t take their gifts. The smiles they conveyed were enough reward.

“Who is next?” she asked, her sights were on the glaive that came with her.

Nyx Ulric, in his standard black uniform, returned her gaze with attention and gently ushered a woman that limped. He walked with the refugee, offering a steady hand that the woman could rely on for support. When they faced the princess, she approached the woman and prayed. A glowing light appeared. The woman let go of the soldier’s hand and loosened the bandage on her leg. Another miracle. Another wound vanished.

The woman broke into a smile. “Thank you, your highness!”

“My pleasure.” Luna nodded.

As the woman walked away without a hitch, the princess signaled the glaive to have him usher the next one in line. He nodded quietly and walked back onto the expecting refugee. This time it was a man that had a gash on his forehead. Luna prayed and the man was healed. The one after him was a little girl. She took the glaive’s hand and he led her. Again, the princess prayed and another miracle was performed.

The more Luna worked the more she noticed how the soldier grew tense in his shoulders and how his face gradually failed to hide fatigue. She recalled how he arrived at the palace stern faced but lacking the usual glint of energy. She knew he had been in the very same battle that these people had come from. And finding out the news of the Kingsglaive’s defeat, she desired to have him rested for the day. But the hero refused, saying it was his captain’s orders to have him escort her.

I’ll manage, he added.

Luna was never the one who would give in to such as simple retort. However, with the way he looked as if he needed to keep moving, to keep fighting, had her permitting his request. And now while the glaive helped in the princess’ crusade, she worried if she made the right decision. The horrific battle had been concluded just last night and she could tell he hadn’t slept since then.

She saw it in his eyes.

In spite of that, he hid behind the straight back and the stern expression. The stone cold façade that was only obvious to the princess.

Continuing on the task, Nyx led an old man with an arm on a sling. When he was within her reach, Luna began to pray.

Then, suddenly, there was a crash a few feet away. The prayer stopped, heads turned and soon the tarp ceiling sagged at a certain level.

It was an accidental tumble by one of the refugees and the person hit a pole that was partly holding up the tent. Nothing to worry about; just a minor incident. Luna finished the prayer as the uninjured tried to fix the pole. But immediately after seeing her latest miracle done, she saw a glint of light.

A reflection from a blade.

The hand that gripped the kukri to his side trembled. Rapid breaths came from his parted lips. The glaive stood still, apparently trying to force it to stay within him, but she could see that he hadn’t paid attention to the healing or even to other things present. Under creased brows, his frantic eyes were seeing something that wasn’t there. It had been just the simple collapse in the tent and yet it was enough to set it off inside of him.

Whatever it was, it tore down his front in an instant. Gone was the stone faced soldier. What stood nearby was a man who helplessly wished that he would see the end of the things that haunted him – a man as scarred as the people she healed.

Alarmed by his troubling demeanor, Luna approached the crowd, wearing her own façade. She walked passed her glaive and fought the urge to come to his aid at this instant.

“I will be resting for an hour.” She announced, scanning their puzzled faces. “But be assured that I will return shortly after.”

A few of the crowd, the abled and in authority, nodded. One of them urged for good measure. “Alright! You heard the princess. Come back later when she’s rested up.”

While the crowd began to disperse, the princess rushed to her glaive. She found him still staring at an unseen danger, still holding on to his weapon.

“Nyx?” she called, even though she was standing in front of him in close proximity. When he continued to heave, she held his face with both palms. That was when he closed his eyes shut and began to force his breathing to slow. He held onto her forearm as if he might fall.

“I’m sorry.” he breathed.

“No. You don’t have to apologize.” she soothed. “Let’s go back to the car and rest.”

With his eyes still closed, he nodded.

 

* * *

 

 

Luna sat at the back seat with him, shoulders touching and her hand on top of his. She felt his head lean onto hers as the muted air filled the vehicle. She assumed that the silence comforted him at least. Taking him out of the tent was essential but now she must wait. His wounds were something she couldn’t just heal.

“I’m sorry.” he said again.

She shook her head. “There’s no need to feel shame.”

And then he was silent again. The princess only squeezed a warm palm on his. She had seen him like this before, in rare times when certain things, like sights or sounds, would trigger him and send him on unnecessary alert. It had been a long while since the last and still, even when their bond had grown stronger, he expressed in self-disgust.

While he remained in a supposed tranquil, she couldn’t help but mumble.

“What did you see?”

In the past, he would only say nothing and let the question hang in the air. She was only left to guess of the horrific images that his mind conjured. An image of the nightmarish monsters in previous battles, a scene where the victims of war had perished or worse, a memory of his deceased sister whom he had failed to rescue. The latter most probably, because it had left him a scar so deep that he had only mentioned her in just a few times.

Or maybe it was an assortment of these images. A greater strain that his mind could never keep buried. And with what the recently lost battle had given him, it was certainly harder to not let it consume him. The princess hoped that he would tell more, letting her share the burden of his inner scars for once.

But for now, he just mumbled back.

“I wish you didn’t have to see me like that.”

Her head turned into him for a little and she waited. His voice grew quieter.

“I wish I’m strong enough.”

Without hesitation, she replied. “You are.”

Luna faced him. His eyes held a gaze but it soon sunk back into his defeat. She understood it now. He was sparing her from all his broken places and chose to venture in them like a lone wolf in the dark woods. He would think he could live by it, but no, he shouldn’t. The battle burdened glaive doesn’t deserve a lonely path of just getting by.

Therefore, she said. “Strength is not being untainted by whatever nightmares we have. It’s the courage to admit that we have them and that we need not face them alone.”

She paused and wore a reassuring smile.

“You are only human, Nyx. And yet you fought to save lives. That’s why they called you a hero.”

His eyes met hers again and this time they stayed focused. She saw beneath the gunmetal blue of his sights, the weariness of his life in battle. She placed a palm on the side of his face and he sighed while he shut his eyes. She planted a kiss onto them and rested her forehead on his own.

“And whatever horrors you will see, I will always walk with you through them.” she promised.

He inched closer and kissed her softly on the lips.

“Thank you.” he whispered.

Luna had heard many thanks throughout the day but only his gratitude, his relief, stirred her emotions.

And so she embraced him, as long as his hands would want her close. The princess and the glaive remained in each other’s warmth until it was time for them to head back. When they left the comforts of the backseat, they walked arm in arm until they saw the people waiting for Oracle’s healing.

Later that day, in the quiet, long after she had healed the last of the injured and afflicted, he finally told her of the images that his mind wouldn’t forget. And she listened to every word, never leaving him to dwell in them alone.


End file.
